|Izunako|

Sylandria slept clutching me. I didn't blame her. She did object to sleeping with me though. "Just this once. You're my combat partner, and that's all you'll ever be."

I sighed and looked at her sleeping form. Still in uniform, mouth slightly open, arm bandaged. Why would Remi do this?! I do realize that Sylandria is a Harpy, but that's no reason to try and kill her… Because of this, Sylandria suggested that we sleep in shifts. It's useless though. Commander Dragoon wouldn't let Remi kill Sylandria anyways. I decided to let myself sleep. I woke up extremely early in the morning to a very agitated Sylandria. "You idiot. Get ready. We're hunting a Class 5 today." She did do this quite a bit, but something was wrong with her today.

"What's your deal?!" I snapped at her.

"I'm fine." She said this without looking at me.

"Sylandria, talk. NOW." I got up quickly and walked up to her face.

"Ashley's gone."

"That's not it." That shocked me. Why was Ashley missing?

Sylandria sighed and looked at the floor. "You said someone's name in your sleep. Callie. Was she a... girlfriend that you left behind…?" Her words were soft. I couldn't look at her for a minute.

"Callie… she was… a… friend… the girl I was sparring with when I met you…"

Sylandria looked up into my eyes. She looked sad. "I… I wanted you to kill her… I'm sorry…"

I patted her head reassuringly. "It's fine. She's… gone anyway." She really was. I didn't even know if she was alive or not. Sylandria still seemed depressed. "Come on. We need to hunt that Class 5, right?" She half smiled. The both of us wore medium combat armor, and seemed to be late. Kagusi didn't seem to notice as around 20 other Hunters rushed out the gates into the dense forest surrounding the compound. Explanation time - monsters are arranged in classes, from 1 to 15. We are fighting a Class 5, which is a rarely dangerous monster. A Class 15 could kill us without moving. We ran for about 10 minutes until the Commander motioned to stop. This was the first real mission in a couple of months . The monsters were relatively passive these days, with most of them being Class 1-2. Kagusi went stiff and motioned us to back out and retreat. I caught a glimpse of what we were supposed to face. It was definitely not a Class 5. IT WAS ONE OF THEM. THE FALLEN. The Fallen are vengeful and forgotten souls of the soldiers who fought against the monsters long ago. Sylandria squeaked as she saw the shadow touch me. I looked back and noticed that she was paper white. I looked back at the Fallen and was horrified. The soul was TRYING TO EAT ASHLEY. Small black tendrils snaked out of its… mouth… and I brought the blade of the broadsword down on the back of its skull. It froze and rotated its head 180 degrees to stare me down.

|Sylandria|

This was easily a Class 11. Whoever the hell wanted us to kill it lied and would pay dearly. I watched Izunako as he was picked up by his neck and thrown into a tree. There were three quick snaps in succession, and I lashed out at the Fallen. The blade of the knife I had grazed the neck and didn't do anything. I landed with my back turned to the Fallen. I heard the screams of the forgotten souls and braced myself for death. The last thing I knew I heard was the sound of metal against stone. I stood there for an eternity. I felt someone press against my back and I looked. It was Izunako with his back against mine, holding back the Fallen weakly. Izunako struggled against the shadow soldier. It was the cold steel of his blade against the cursed stone of the shadow. Ashley was on his shoulder, struggling to stay alive with a broken spine by leaching off Izunako's energy. Izunako slid backwards as the Fallen pushed, knocking him off his feet. The Hunter was on the ground and failing to recover. The Fallen raised the stone sword to deal the ending blow, but I unintentionally whispered something and raised my open palm towards the shadow. "Be purified. He purged. Clear the soul of Corruption and lead it to the next life." I watched in horror as the shadow slowly dissolved and Izunako writhed in pain. I rushed over to my friend and cupped his face with my hand. He looked into my eyes and stopped moving. "Damn it…" He fell unconscious. I failed to stay awake with him. I woke up a day later to white. Am I dead?! I quickly realized the white was a sheet over my face. I flailed about, trying to remove the sheet. Someone walked up to me quietly and removed it. It was Remi.

"Good morning Haigazu." I wanted to get up and punch her, but I felt extremely weak. "Just to let you know, Izunako is fine. He suffered some deep bruises and a broken arm, but the bones are set and he will heal in time. I'm expecting you would like to go see him?"

I could only nod. Remi picked me up gingerly and walked me to another room. Izunako was sleeping with his arm in a sling and… a girl was holding him. A girl with mottled pale yellow and blue hair. Her tail was the same. I tumbled out of Remi's arms and stood in a combat stance. "Explain… yourself…!"

The girl smiled at me. "Good morning, Miss Sylandria!"

I picked up Izunako's knife from the table and pointed it in her direction. "Shut up! Who are you?!"

The girl was surprised. "I thought you'd recognize me, Miss Sylandria. It's me. Ashley."

I dropped the knife in astonishment. "A… Ashley…?"

"Yes… it's me… Miss Remi said that she didn't know how to fix dragonmander bones, so they had to turn me into a person."

I looked at Izunako, who wasn't actually sleeping, he just had his eyes closed. "I never approved of this, Ashley."

"But Master… I would have died…"

This shocked both me and Izunako. Izunako looked crushed, but I felt a smile creep across my face. "Ashley… don't say things like that…!" I laid down next to him. Izunako put his arms around me and Ashley, and I placed my head on his chest. Something was off though. I felt something… dangerous… Oh no. Izunako. A soul of the Corruption inhabited his body. I looked over at Ashley and Izunako, who had both fallen asleep. Hell is upon us. And we need to prepare.